I scrawl this update relatively quickly, as we are once again at camp on the road, and the light has begun to fade with many other preparations to make before my watch.  Yet more trouble potentially awaits us tomorrow, as we are traveling towards the larger community of Sakor’s Keep, one of the more significant cities in this region of Axana.  We must be on the alert, as there was some more evidence of goblins near Hornsdean as we passed near there earlier today.  Perhaps the reverie of Kelindiel’s death will be proven apropos, but I do not feel that the remnants of the goblins previously fought would have been the basis of my unease.   I feel that it is a more serious premonition of some sort, and given Lorien’s gifts in guiding me thus far, one that I would be unwise to dismiss, however frustrated and impatient I have been over the last weeks in lack of guidance since arriving in Hall of the Hill.

On a more positive note, we had a pleasant gathering the other evening, this strange group that has become known as the Heroes of the Hall.  It was a fine night of food and camaraderie, although I am still unsure what it is about these individuals that lures me into their company, because I am sure a stranger group could not be found in this kingdom, or in Yasa Nalore as well.  It is certainly not something I would have expected to have found, nor is it something that I thought I was searching for.   I know we as a people pride ourselves on the ability to do things individually, but there is something to be said for the companionship of other beings, and I find that I have missed the camaraderie of the Guard these past years.

Miss Adelaide’s sister Evie was a fine hostess, and I sense perhaps that she was the driving force behind the invitation for this little party.   Whatever the reason for the invitation, or whomever responsible, I am thankful for it.  I had thought, perhaps initially, that Adelaide was still apprenticed to the mage Istrum, but apparently that is not the case, as she informed me that she used to be so.  I feel even more shamed as I had wrongfully interpreted his actions, and my complicity in them, to be some sort of punishment towards a wayward apprentice.  Either way it was wrong as no one we know would have ever treated an apprentice in such a way, but these humans are often so brutal to one another that I let my obsession overcome my senses.  I am sure that my attempts at an apology were accepted, if not entirely forgiven or forgotten.  We shall see, but at least our journey today was comfortable and the dinner party relaxed.

Apparently, Adelaide has no need of spell books and the rituals which we so enjoy to cast her magic, something I am not familiar with.  She apparently just feels her way through casting.  From the evidence I have witnessed, this is an amazing gift, although I have no idea from where it comes, or how she discovered it or has trained it, other than to say that there is a hidden rage directed towards the wizard with whom she had apprenticed, and which I did not help, so her forgiveness for such an act is even more astonishing to me.  I know that I certainly would have been less apt to provide such absolution.  So perhaps brutality was part of the training, and I may not have been so wrong as I had thought.  Where possible, I plan to investigate this ability further.  I know that it will come as no surprise to you of my fascination with anything arcane.

I will close with our reasons for journeying towards Sakor’s Keep.  At the meal the other night, Azguld was a bit pre-occupied at times.  Apparently, the blacksmith with whom he is apprenticed is overdue in returning to the Hall.  He left the day after our battle with the goblinoids, to trade goods as he was wont to do at the keep.  However, the journey is relatively short, even with a fully loaded wagon of goods, and he should have returned.  Given the evidence of the goblins, and the other foul animals we have encountered, it seemed reasonable to follow and, hopefully, find that nothing is wrong.  I do indeed hope that to be the case, for Azguld’s sake.  I know too well the loss of friends, and even though I have not been here long, it is obvious that Azguld considers him a second father.  Hopefully, tomorrow, we will have made this trip for naught, and will discover that Master Wirt is overdue because of a successful market enterprise, and not to some foul end, as there has been a sufficiency of that in the last weeks.

Cormamin niuve tenna’ ta elea lle au’ —–Elyrienne